The Usage Pattern and Knowledge of Health Functional Foods and Nutrition Quotient According to Age Group

Abstract

As the demand for health functional foods (HFF) is increasing, 356 nutritionists were surveyed on patterns of purchase and usage, knowledge regarding HFF, and nutrition quotient (NQ) and compared by age group: 20’s, 30’s and 40’s and plus. Without age difference, the most considered factor when purchasing HFF was effectiveness (62.3%) and 92.8% of the subjects answered to have confirmed nutritional and functional information and 73.2% did “confirmed authentication mark”. Only 56.2% of the subjects finished HFF that they purchased and the most frequently answered reason for not finishing was “short of time” followed by no effect and adverse reactions . Among 7.6% of the subjects who experienced adverse reactions, only 37.0% told to neighbors, while only 7.4% complained to the manufacturer and 3.7% reported to Reporting center. The average correct answers among 8 questions regarding HFF was 4.8 in their 30’s, higher than 4.4 in their 20’s and 4.3 in their 40’s and older (p<0.01). Nutritionists have an average NQ of 55.5 in their 40’s and plus, which is higher than those in their 20’s (51.2) and 30’s (51.6) (p<0.001), therefore, young nutritionists should work harder to improve their eating habits. On the other hand, the correlation between NQ and HFF-related knowledge was not significant, indicating that good eating habits are not related to what the nutritionists know well. Therefore, the results of this study suggested the necessity of developing a proper awareness of HFF by nutritionists and preparing a system for desirable dietary practice.